Report brands local IPR protection as ‘far from satisfactory’

Business World 

GOVERNMENT protection of patents, trademarks and copyrights in the Philippines has been assailed by yet another trading partner, this time the European Union, for allegedly remaining weak despite earlier interventions.

The European Commission, in a report made public on Friday, said the enforcement of intellectual property rights (IPR) here and in 13 other countries remained "far from satisfactory" five years since the Western bloc implemented an anti-piracy strategy. 

The declaration comes at the heels the EC’s new trade policy blueprint which includes commitments to alter trade privileges granted to developing countries and also to produce, starting 2011, an annual review of global trade and investment barriers that should "trigger appropriate enforcement action". 

Already, the United States implements a policy of suspending duty-free perks granted to developing economies under the Generalized System of Preferences program if they are tagged as a "priority foreign country" notorious for IP piracy. 

Similar to the US, the EC took issue with the Philippines’ "deficient enforcement of domestic IPR regulations, lack of trained officials, lack of financial resources, and corruption". 

Also, "criminal procedures are considered as deficient on account of the low level of fines," stated the EC report, which culled data from documents, interviews and country visits. 

Earlier this year, the Philippines was also kept in the US Trade Representative’s 2010 watch list. The US state agency also tagged the country for an "out-of-cycle review." 

The EC report went on to state that while "competent authorities" here had tried to address IP concerns, enforcement remained "weak" particularly with regard to preventing pirated goods from being smuggled into the country. 

"The judicial system is slow, complex and lacking expertise in the field, leading to low conviction rates and imposition of non-deterrent sentences," it said. 

These were the same IPR concerns the Western bloc raised in 2006 when it lumped the Philippines with the likes of China and Russia as "priority" countries. The others cited then, and again in the recent report, were: neighbors Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, Malaysia, along with Ukraine, Argentina, Korea, Turkey, Brazil, Chile and Paraguay. 

Back then, the EC said it would be speaking with Philippine authorities to settle the matter and provide grants to raise enforcement standards.